In a perfect world of electric mobility, every Electric Vehicles’ driver should be able to recharge everywhere and at any time. For those drivers that live and commute across Central and Eastern Europe, the ideal e-mobility world is becoming a reality.
Thanks to the NEXT-E project, a cooperation with the participation of E.ON Group, HEP, MOL Group, Petrol Group and two car manufacturers, 222 multistandard fast chargers (50 kilowatts) and 30 ultra-fast chargers (150-350 kW) will be integrated onto the Hubject’s intercharge platform, the world’s largest cross-provider charging network.
By cooperating with Hubject, the NEXT-E project significantly extends the influence of its e-mobility network, providing a long-distance charging infrastructure with a connection to an eRoaming platform.
In other words, EVs’ owners across the region will be glad to hear that all they need is Hubject. With this application, all NEXT-E’s charging points are going to be available through six bordering countries: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania.
“The NEXT-E project will be instrumental in the transition to reaching the ambitious target of a zero-emission transport sector and a carbon-neutral economy in Europe,” said Richard Ferrer, Head of the Transport Innovation Team at the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA). “Interoperability and e-roaming are essential features of an efficient Electric Vehicle recharging network and provide for a seamless electric journey along with the European road network.”
As he pointed out, recharging an Electric Vehicle has to be very easy, reliable and affordable for European citizens. The availability of this service on the Hubject platform is a significant step in that direction, thanks to the pioneering spirit of public and private companies representing an entire ecosystem from energy to automotive, mobility and software industries.
“Electromobility is becoming a reality in Europe,” Mr Ferrer added. “The European Commission and INEA will continue to support such projects and economic operators through the various programmes to achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal.”
Currently, access to EV-chargers is possible with the application of the participating company that has deployed the charger, leading to barriers in roaming and long-distance cross-border EV. This is going to change. The addition of 222 fast and 30 ultra-fast chargers deployed by the NEXT-E consortium members to Hubject’s intercharge platform will make it possible to comfortably drive an electric vehicle from the Czech border to the Adriatic or the Black Sea, using only one application. As such, users will be able to charge their car in all charging stations of the NEXT-E project through Hubject’s intercharge platform, thus widely expanding the mobility of e-mobility customers in all NEXT-E countries.
As we wrote about it earlier, in Central Europe, not just the NEXT-E is on foot: British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell, collaborating with IONITY, has already launched its first Shell Recharge point, Shell’s EV charging brand. Till the end of 2021, the company would like to deploy 21 charging stations at Shell’s service stations across CEE.
